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***
The couple of days since we had solved the problem of the name Parker, or rather the surname Parker, had gone by very quickly. We didn't work, giving part of our time to our hobbies and socialising, and just idly wandered around the Aldecaldo camp, as there were no problems in the camp that required our intervention.
Just when I was thinking of calling Bestia or Regina, the latter called me.
- I'm listening.
- I need your help.
- Details?
- I recommended to Helms a very cool brayne tuner, who used to work for Double-u-en-es, he's really cool, and he was kicked out of his last job not for his work qualities at all, he just started doing some machinations there... Anyway, it's not relevant, the main thing you need to know is that he went to one of Helms' bases to tune the brayne, but Hal must have made a mistake somewhere....
- Let me guess, the girl's losing her mind?
- Yeah... as long as she's in the warehouse and her actions don't attract much attention, but every minute the chance that she'll break out is getting bigger and bigger... and it's not just that, Max-then everything would be dealt with. But Hal couldn't get away and he's hiding from her in a warehouse ...
- Address?
I immediately got a message with more details, which I forwarded to Panam and almost a minute later got a reply from her that it's now almost three hours of driving time to get there.
- I'm out of town and driving there is three hours of time.....
- We don't have that much time...
Regina sighed.
- Well... you could order an avi from Delamayne, but it would cost a fortune....
- I'll pay for it.
I nodded a couple of times.
- Okay, let's do it that way, I'll ask Del for a 'goods receipt' with the point of departure and arrival and send it to you, and you reimburse me.
- Agreed...
- Then it's over... though no, what about the Helms, what do we do?
- Hmm?
- Well, I mean, the one with the roof leak, and the others might have survived...
- If they survived, get help, if you can disarm the leaky one... I know someone who does research on Cyberpsychosis, or rather, pulling the mind out of it. I can't guarantee they'll help her there, but at least it's not a nullification....
- Well, you're right about that. Okay, over and out.
- Over and out.
I immediately disconnected from Regina and dialled Delamaine's number, a service I'd never used before.
- The Delamaine Company would like to welcome you. This is the first time you have contacted us and as a token of appreciation for your confidence in us, you are entitled to a ten per cent discount on all ground transport.
- Thank you, I'd like to book an urgent transport on an avi from the coordinates in the Badlands to a point in Knight City.
- I'm sorry, but we don't provide that service.
- As far as I know, you do... It's included in the Excelsior package, as well as a few less expensive packages like Platinum and Gold.
- Do you want the Excelsior package for this trip?
- No, just the gold package.
- I am grateful for the trust you place in Delamaine. I would like to remind you that the combat mode is only available in the Platinum and Excelsior packages. Do you still wish to purchase the Gold package for this trip?
- Confirmed, gold package.
- I remind you that payment for such packages is made at the moment of arrival or arrival of transport. However, this also requires some prepayment.
- I understand.
I've first given Delamain the pick-up point and the drop-off point.
- The arrival time of the avi is thirty minutes.
And then I paid for the Gold Package. Of course this could have been done later when we got into the avi, but... there's a little nuance, the package starts when you pay for it, not when you apply for it.
- I wish to take advantage of the Gold Package privileges. Transport should pick us up from the first point in the shortest possible time and also in the shortest possible time to deliver us to our destination.
- Recalculating... arrival time avi seven minutes.....
I nodded.
- Thank you.
- Don't mention it, it's just my job.
The connection cut off and I ran to my battle suit, which I put on, as well as equipping the rest of my weapons of pistols, knives and tonfa with energy blades. Just as quickly the rest of the girls were getting ready, even Panam was no exception. But this time she wasn't going to be a driver, but a stormtrooper covering the Ranners together with Becca.
- Right, ladies.
With about a minute left until Delamain arrived, the silhouette of the avi that was flying towards us from Knight City was increasing in size very quickly.
- Helm's in trouble... Judy, contact that lady, ask her what they even wanted with a certain Hal... as well as how many girls were supposed to be in that warehouse where he was redecorating the braine.
- Roger that.
- Do we have to save Helm?
Judy was asking this question, and her eyes were already glowing, showing that she was trying to contact the head of Helm.
- No, to save Hal, according to Regina he's a very tough guy, and he got kicked out of his last job for something unrelated to his skills in editing brans. And apparently Regina needs this shot badly, but she doesn't mind if we spend some of our time giving first aid to Helms and disarming the one that leaked the roof....
- What are we supposed to do with her after that?
The Avi landed in front of us and we loaded inside, after which I tapped into the on-board computer through the private port.
- Identity confirmed. David Martinez. Destination determined. Flight time is fifteen minutes. We wish you a pleasant flight.
- Thank you.
But Del's image has already disappeared.
- Lucy, back to your question, we'll pass it on to Regina. She knows someone who deals with cybersychosis and a small chance of getting your personality and life back to normal is better than zeroing in on the unfortunate.
- Right.
- Girls...
I looked at the Runners.
- ...I don't have to tell you, but you just stay out of the Helm network. Who knows what the actions of Hal and that fool's leaking roof have done to her.
Further we flew silently, however, we flew fast enough.
- Attention, there are no landing sites at the destination...
- Thanks, Del, you can drop me off without descending, just open the door and I'll drop down, the height is only ten metres....
I shrugged.
- Twelve metres and thirty-seven centimetres.
- It doesn't matter, but the girls, if it's not too much trouble, drop them on the roof of this warehouse, as low as possible.
- Copy that.
The door of the avi opened and I easily jumped out of it and pushed off the wall of the building, past which I fell, turned my flight from purely vertical to diagonal. And by rolling when I touched the ground, I completely cancelled the inertia and immediately headed towards the warehouse, while activating the sandi.
Jump and I fly into the open window on the first floor, in my hands tonfa blades which I am ready to switch on at any moment, but there is only one Shelma in an extremely poor condition. I didn't talk to her, just injected her with an injector, which should stabilise her condition any minute now, and then walked around the room inserting the chips before going out into the main warehouse.
The girl downstairs was really out of it....
I couldn't understand what she was yelling, even though she had some weak sandi, she was too slow compared to me, so I just sprinted across the top tier of the warehouse and jumped on the girl, hitting her hard with my off tonfa. It didn't help, it didn't incapacitate her, I could see that, but what to do?
Somehow I didn't feel much like beating her to the point of extreme severity. Sure she might pass out from the pain, but it wasn't like it was her own fault....
Sighing I almost completely disabled Sandi, still even so I was stronger than her. So I even having a speed just below the girl would be able to stand up to her.
- Do you understand me?
- Aah! I'm gonna kill you!
- You mean you don't understand? Too bad... then I'll have to zero in after all....
I shook my head.
- Noooooooooo!!!
Her voice cracked and became electronic.
- I'll kill you!
- Quiet, we've made our way into Helm's network, though operating through third-party resources that act as buffers between us and display information for us as if on a monitor is... a bit awkward. But... anyway, this Hal, from what we've seen, has deliberately messed up the brein....
I frowned.
- Intentionally?
- Exactly. The girl who'd been sweating Millie she'd turned him down, according to her, even before this bloke worked for Double-Un-As. And this guy really didn't like it....
- Was it all Hal's fault?
I looked carefully at the frenzied girl, who froze for a few seconds at my words.
- Yeah! I'm gonna kill you!
- Sorry...
Continuing to hold her tightly I stroked her head.
- I wish I could help you, but I can't let you do that. I've been commissioned to ensure his safety.
- Kill-you-you-you-you-you!
I lost interest in the girl.
- What are your suggestions?
- Contact the fixer and discuss what's going on.
Well, that's understandable, but what about the girl? She was no danger to me, sandy and mantis blades, that's all she had, the first one she couldn't use properly because I was holding her, and the second one for the same reason. It's all about knowing how to hold it so that the blades can't extend out of her hands....
As the girl continued to freak out on the floor I was holding her to, I decided to dial Regina.
- I'm listening.
- It's Tihonja. There's some data... not good data...
- What kind of data?
- The girl who's been leaking has denied your master sex... according to her own words, judging by the video my girls were able to pull out, it's not the first time it's happened. Also according to the circumstantial evidence, the girl's roof leak is Hal's fault. And it wasn't an accident.
Regina frowned.
- Circumstantial evidence?
- Yes, the girls are now gathering more detailed information, so I'm in a bit of a quandary. On the one hand, I have an order and its failure will affect my reputation, but on the other hand, I can imagine how you will react if I fulfil it and then these details come out....
- Yeah... I'll help you solve that dilemma. Hal has to survive, but you can't just let him go. If he's guilty I'll punish him myself...the car will be here...in an hour. The car for the girl and the survivors will be here at the same time.
- Copy that.
The connection went dead, and I shook the girl, which stopped her howling, 'I'll kill you.'
- Listen here... To Fixer I reported, and she guaranteed that she would punish Hal if there was proof of his guilt.
- I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I! I'll kill you myself!
I shook her again.
- Don't move, you can't fight me anyway.
- I'll kill you!
- Yes-yes...
I looked at her sadly.
- You better remember all your friends who tried to stop you, some of them are still alive....
I was glimpsing the warehouse when I fell on that psycho and my optics allowed me to say things like that with confidence. Badly wounded, but most of them are alive... still while the girl is leaking roof on a particular mind... And she wasn't at all intent on killing everyone and everything, though I suppose that's temporary. It's rare for any cyberpsychic to have the ability to control themselves during the active phase of a seizure. And during the inactive phase, they just become like vegetables...
Although passive phases are extremely rare, cyberpsychs are usually in the active phase, and that is where they are eliminated....
We only know about the existence of the passive phase because several calls to Max have not been answered....
- Are you alive?
- Yes.
- Did I kill them?
- No, you didn't kill them, although if they don't get help they may die soon.
- Help.
The word was particularly hard to say, and tears came to her eyes.
- Kill! Hal! I'll kill you!
I shook my head and contacted the girls and allowed them to enter the warehouse to give first aid to all the girls who could still be helped....